Control Creep

No, for once not a sobriquet for Gordon Brown but a description of his stealthy emasculation, subversion and take-over of England's local government structures during his ten years as Britain's Chief Minister for Internal Affairs.

"Representing 11 Whitehall Departments, Government Offices are the primary means by which a wide range of Government policies are delivered in the English regions." That's from here. And incidentally, straight out of The EU Textbook - Chapter One.

It is profoundly un-English.

Yes, the centralising Government Offices for the English Regions are alive and well and hiding out in the open where no-one will spot them because no-one is looking. (We will come to why that is in a moment.) They are the tentacles of Whitehall, reaching out to control the English counties, districts, towns and parishes, while the monster at the centre of it all devolves real power to the Labour-dominated heartlands of Wales and Scotland. Well, Labour-dominated until Eck stood up and rocked the boat a bit.

The achievement of political quietus was the chief reason for devolution in Scotland and Wales. It had nothing to do with democracy. Make no mistake - these people governing us (for now) are anything but democrats. At the same time, they set up the means of depriving the English of their traditional political structures and destroying their centres of potential and actual political opposition in local government.

Labour has also organised and sponsored, through its supporters and surrogates in the media establishment - and yes, I do especially mean the BBC - the careful de-politicisation of the mass of the English people. True to the spirit of this age of the celeb in which 'personalities' are all that matters and policy counts for nothing, the BBC, our chief means of dissemination of what passes for political information, concentrates almost entirely on the struggles among a few celebrities in the main political parties rather than on their policies. (Of course, I mean excepting the rule that the phrase 'right wing' must be used at every conceivable opportunity in connection with Tory Party policy.)

What about the real business of governance? It is largely ignored. For example, in this morning's discussions on BBC TV of Redwood's forthcoming paper, the questioning focused not on what he was proposing and why he thought it was good for the country (although Redwood himself calmly stuck to that) but on whether it meant a 'lurch (pejorative word) to the right' and whether this was a threat to Cameron. Party stuff rather than what is good or bad for the people and the country. When John Hutton came on, he made the predictable remarks about the Conservative party, the 'lurch' and so on, and was not asked about the substance of the matter. There was simply no real political discussion.

Fed this sort of pap, it is no wonder that voters have no idea how to choose between the parties on the basis of policy, nor that they believe 'they are all the same'. 'All the same' is how the BBC presents them. The approved narrative is the personalities and the party power struggles.

This is why the Apathy Party wins. (And this is why right wing blogs are increasingly flourishing. The internet is the only place open to us for genuine political discussion.)

This is de-politicisation. It is unhealthy to the point of being pernicious. This is what Labour wants. This is how they intend to stay in power.

Inertia favours the governing party so the thing to do is to remain the governing party at all costs and by any means.

New Labour's chief principle on entering government in 1997 was to ensure that the party stays in power for ever, if possible. That means living down all scandals with gritted teeth, denying, obfuscating and always stressing the need to 'move on', as though 'moving on' is synonymous with progress towards a better world, a better life.

This is how it is in England, but not in Scotland or Wales, where politics is, as always, alive and well but Labour dominated, so that's all right then. No danger of Labour losing real power, despite Eck's best efforts, so no need for a tight leash. And BBC Scotland and Wales are different, too. There, politics is discussed, not just party machinations as is largely the case in England.

Labour's plan, and the focus of Gordon Brown's every action, is to remain in office indefinitely. This master plan must not be allowed to be dependent on the whim of the English electorate which would not be forthcoming. In England, where most of the British people live and where almost all British tax revenue is raised, Labour has no natural majority and Gordon Brown no majority at all, so control of England and the English must be top of the agenda.

Brown has certainly packed the vote, thereby distorting the electorate, but more importantly, the English have deliberately been fed political pap laced with bromide, and told what their political and cultural heritage is by people who wish to destroy both. The tactical aim of this government's policy in all matters is the suppression of the English people to whose customs, culture, history and institutions Labour has shown itself inimical - because England's ways are inimical to its aims. The Labour Party is assiduously attacking England on all fronts - and dismantling it as fast as it can. The Party's Marxist forefathers would be rejoicing, were they not a little preoccupied with suffering the torments of Hell, or so one hopes.

Control is Gordon Brown's whole agenda. The Office of the English Regions is central to his strategy. His signature on the European Constitution this autumn - and make no mistake, he will break his promise and sign it - will be the most cynical of all his moves, for in the same moment as he signs away our and his self-determination, he will set in stone the structures he has been building which will take all political control away from the English people, making permanent the political environment most favourable to his chief object - to keep himself in power.

Japan's industrial-economic strategy was decided immediately after World War II. It was to dominate the world's electronics industries at low profit margins: to have one per cent profit on 90 per cent of the market rather than 10 per cent profit on 2 per cent of it. Tesco takes the same approach to groceries. Gordon Brown is adapting this in his European politics. He will have, or so he intends, 100 per cent control of power in a province of the European State, and thus become unassailable in his little fiefdom. Far better this than risk losing uncertain control of a self-governing and wilful nation, populated by independent minded people with the freedom and the will to throw the buggers out when they think fit.